


The Mentality Of A Broken Man

by Janethecat



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Blood, Castiel is a Good Friend, Confusion, Dean Winchester Has Mental Health Issues, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Gabriel Being Gabriel (Supernatural), I know I sure dont, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Pre-Castiel/Dean Winchester, Well - Freeform, alternate Universe-kinda, does anyone even read these?, it has not been a good week for the boys, the alternate universe is, this is set somewhere in the eighties, unfair accusations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26038327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janethecat/pseuds/Janethecat
Summary: Simple hunts usually go as planned. They get there, find the bad guy and tank them. They did that, so why on earth is Dean suddenly waking up in a straight jacket in a room of padded walls?
Relationships: Castiel & Dean Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	The Mentality Of A Broken Man

**Author's Note:**

> The alternate universe they get sent to is centered around somewhere in the eighties so while in their world, it’s the twenty first century, there it’s 1983.
> 
> If you find any typos or grammar mistakes, please tell me.

A simple hunt, that’s all it is, or was. The night before had turned up nothing which lead to him being disgruntled and getting both comforted and ignored by his brother and his boyfriend respectively. Waking up the next day though had been a ride he had not been prepared for. 

Rolling onto his stomach, his arms twitched to go around his pillow, only coming up short. Blinking into awareness, Dean rolled over and leapt onto his feet in one swift movement while tugging at his arms once more. Slowly looking down at himself he stared at the straitjacket around his torso. 

“What the...” mouth falling open Dean looked up and around the room, coming to a stop on the outline of a door that opened as soon as he stopped to look at it. A man walked in with his head bent over a clipboard. He wore a long white coat over a white button up and black slacks creating a look that picked at his memory, floating somewhere between recognition and total unknown. 

Shutting his mouth with a click, Dean straightened up to stare down at the other man. He didn’t know who this guy was or how he managed to get Dean there without actually waking him up, but he knew it couldn’t be good. 

“Alright Dean, it looks like today is the day we get you out of here and back into a room!” The guy looked up at him and-

“What the hell.” Cas stood there with relaxed features and a lazy smile on his face. The expression was so unfamiliar it took Dean well over thirty seconds to fully get his bearings. “Well, uh, you-you know me,” he said loudly with a plastic smile, “always ready to-to get back out there.” 

“Hopefully we won’t end up back in here anymore. Guys?” A pair of men walked in after Cas, one who held Deans upper arms (as if it would actually manage to hold him still) while the other unlocked the jacket from around him. Rolling his shoulders as much as he could, Dean let himself be lead out of the padded room and down a hall. 

“So, uh, why was I in here again?” Cas glanced back at him but said nothing on the account that Dean should already know the answer to it. 

“You don’t remember? Dean, You tried to take out another patient with a torch claiming they were a Rue-gay-gue.”

“Rugaru,” he corrected without thinking. 

“Yes, that. Come on, we have these meetings every month and it’s getting worse. They have upped your prescription hoping it will work this time but if not then I don’t know what you’re going to do. I can’t keep standing up for and protecting you forever, Dean. At a certain point, I’m not going to be enough.” When it should have been said with finality, Dean couldn’t help but detect a slice of real concern for him. Or maybe it was for this apparent counter him. Gulping, Dean stared at his friends back while he tried to make heads or tails of what was happening. He didn’t have a clue and was quickly shuffled into a room with only a small window above the scarcely covered bed. 

Staring at it, he sighed before moving about the room to shove things aside, search through the several belongings and generally creating chaos inside the room. He found nothing but dust and anger. With little else to do, he started pulling apart the bed spread to go searching even deeper. There was nothing to be found and in the end he was left to reassemble the furniture and sit quietly on the floor trying to think of ways out. It didn’t help that Sammy was nowhere to be found, at least not yet, and he still had no idea what the heck was happening. As he had began to give up, a knock on the door forced his eyes to snap to the solid door as it opened to reveal another orderly. One he knew well. 

“Hey Dean, you ready to go and meet up with dr. Singer today?” Charlie’s bright smile did nothing to ease the sense of dread sitting in his gut as he stood up. Nodding once to her he followed noiselessly out of the room and down the hall. They stopped outside a door with a plaque Dean should have read but bypassed in exchange for staring directly at Charlie, probably for an uncomfortable amount of time. 

“Well, I will leave you two to it.” With that she spun on her heel and walked away. Behind him the door opened and another voice he knew called out to him. 

“Winchester?” Turning slowly, Dean stared into Bobby’s eyes and had to work hard not to pull the older man into a hug. 

“You comin’?” His gruff voice startled Dean out of his trance and he followed noiselessly into the room to sit across from his sergate father on a barley passable couch. 

“So, how’re you doing so far? Usually we have to go over what happened this time so let’s start there. Do you remember what we had to lock you up for.” 

“Jeez Bobby, you make it sound like I was thrown in jail. It was a, uh, a rugaru right?” Bobby nodded but did little to hide the confusion crowding his features. In that moment Dean understood this really wasn’t his Bobby, never would his Bobby Singer have allowed so much emotion to shine through, especially when it was an emotion that would make him look weaker than he was. 

“Why’d ya call me Bobby?” Tapping his fingers rhythmically against his knee, Dean looked around the room, further familiarizing himself with the place before making a move to stand up, only to stop when Bobby stared him down. 

“You know what, I really don’t have time to deal with this. Where’s my brother?” 

“Who?” 

“My brother, Sam? Sammy? Four years younger than me? Seriously where is he.” 

“Dean,” Bobby set his notes aside and leaned forwards while rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “We’ve been over this before. Your brother died in a house fire when you were four. This brother that you keep imagining isn’t real, nor is hunting vampires or werwolves or whatever a rugaru is.” Pausing his everything, Dean stared at the other man with a half smile half frown. 

“Sammy’s dead? What about my dad?” 

“He died when you both got into a car crash several years ago. We’ve been over this.” His voice remained patient but Dean was beyond it. He was done. Standing up, he threw one hand onto his waist while rubbing at his mouth with the other. Pacing the floor, he pretended not to notice the way the older man tensed up at his sudden movement, he also pretended not to feel the stab of pain that sent through him. It was like that stupid other universe all over again, only this time he didn’t remember how he got there. 

“Bobby, I don’t know what’s going on man. And before you start-“ he held up a finger when Bobby opened his mouth to interrupt “-no, I don’t mean anything about this whole fake shit. I mean I went to bed last night after a long day and next thing I know I’m waking up in a straitjacket with you people telling me I hunted a rugaru when I haven’t seen one of those things in years. I don’t know what’s going on.” Bobby stared at him as if he had three heads, hand hovering over the button to call orderlies while halfway standing. 

“How do you know I go by Bobby.” He asked slowly, mouth moving as if in slow motion. 

“I’ve known you for well over three decades, you’ve never once told me to call you anything else.” Standing, Bobby presser the button behind him and Dean sighed. “Man, you still don’t believe me do you?” 

“You have a meeting with your doctor now boy and I damn well hope you’ve stopped spouting lies by then.” 

“Bobby,” he tried, being shut down immediately with the wave of the others hand as the door behind him opened and a pair of burly men walked in. They walked him to another location where he was sat on a table covered in paper and told to wait. Piercing his lips, he kicked his legs out for a solid ten seconds before getting bored and hopping down. He was in the middle of inspecting a stethoscope when another voice made itself known. 

“You know, you really shouldn’t go through other people’s things.” Turning, Dean felt his eyes soften at the sight of the ang-human. The human. 

“Cas.” 

“Hello, Dean.” Sighing, Dean almost fell for it, the small frown, the furrowed brows, but the coat wasn’t tan, it was white and he wasn’t Cas, Dean’s angel, he was some doctor in an insane asylum. Shaking his head, Dean sucked in a breath and continued playing with the tool. 

“So, you here to go all Frankenstein on my ass or something?” Cas’s face melted away into something less confused and further into exasperation. Closing the door behind him, Cas flipped through a chart Dean was only now noticing. Gesturing back to the table Dean had recently vacated, he took a seat himself a few feet away. 

“The last dosage of pills did not work for you, but they’re hoping that if they up the intake a bit more you might be able to heal but...” Remaining quiet, Dean stared down at fake-Castiel while leaned forwards with one arm resting on his leg and a smirk on his face. 

“You saying I’m broken, doc?” 

“No, never, I would never say that. Not to you. I’m just suggesting these hallucinations seem to be getting worse.” Scoffing, Dean looked away at the wall to his left. Some terrible rendering of a monkey swung on a vine through some vague shapes that looked like a jungle but Dean wasn’t quite sure. 

“Dean, focus, they’re going to up your dosage every time you freak out, it shouldn’t effect you in any way other than making you more focused and hopefully stop the hallucinations.” 

“This isn’t a hallucination! I’ve seen hallucinations, I’ve lived through them, and this-this is real, Cas. I don’t know why the hell I’m here but I need to get out.” 

“And what do you mean by you’ve lived through hallucinations.” He was halfway to forming the words when he took in the others not-real enough to be genuine concern, the overly open expression he wore and the hands hovering above the pen and paper, desperately attempting to hold himself back from writing this all down. Laughing, Dean shook his head and stood from the table. 

“Nah, I’m not gonna say shit, you want to know why? Because you aren’t my Cas, now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and get out of h-“ 

“I’m sorry,” a head popped into the doorway, hesitance written clearly on their features. “There’s, uh, there’s someone here to talk to mr. Winchester and it’s visiting time so...” he trailed off, glancing between Cas, sitting clearly startled in his chair, a pen in his limp hand and notepad on the floor after he dropped it in Dean’s confrontation and Dean, standing tall with a look of murder in his face. 

“Who.” He demanded. 

“Uh, he-he said his name was Jim Rockford.” Shoulders falling half an inch, Dean nodded and moved to follow the other man out of the room when he lead him into a room where he spotted a familiar face. 

“Thank you,” the orderly nodded and left the two of them alone. The other figure stood from his seat and crossed the room in four solid steps to pull Dean into a hug. 

“Sammy,” he whispered, bringing his arms up to hug him back. Once done, they sat down across from one another. “How did you get here man?” Sam shook his head while shrugging. 

“I woke up here in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t find you, so I started researching about anything related to you to see what I could find and saw some newspaper article about dad dying in a car wreck which lead me to looking for you where I found that other you apparently tried to kill a guy he claimed was a vamp and ended up here. I figured I could get in with a bit of well placed lying and proper paper trails. If anyone asks, I’m your cousin.” Laughing, he clapped the others shoulder and shook him a bit. 

“Good job, Sammy! Now onto more pressing matters,” he leaned forwards, dropping the smile to stare Sam dead in the eye. “Bobby is a physiatrist here.” They held it together for a total of ten seconds before bursting out into joyous laughter with one another. Later when they parted it was on the terms that Sam would be back and that they probably couldn’t just break Dean out without knowing the lay of the land. Which left Dean to wander about in a half awake, half asleep haze with eyes starting to blur over. He didn’t know which direction his room was in or whether he was in the right area, but at this point as long as he could find a quiet stable surface to pass out on he didn’t care. 

“Dean?” A lone voice called out behind him and he turned to see fake-Castiel stare at him while tilting his head. 

“Cas.” He said, walking away from the direction he was headed in and coming to a stop in front of the other man. 

“What are you doing all the way over here.” Laughing, he rubbed at the back of his neck and gestured around them. 

“Couldn’t remember where my room was. Everything looks the same when you’re half asleep.” Cas nodded, like anything Dean said was true. 

“Here, I’ll help.” Taken aback, Dean watched with one eyebrow raised as Cas waved him along and began to lead the way away. 

“Got to ask, why are you helping me? From what I’m getting, I’m a pretty messed up dude with psychotic visions.” Cas shrugged next to him, all while keeping his eyes facing forwards. 

“Because... you didn’t choose this. Besides, there’s something about how you woke up this time, you’re.. different.” 

“Hopefully the good kind of different.” 

“I don’t know, you’re just, different.” The silence between them came back with a vengeance as they passed door by door until Cas stopped in front of one looking exactly like the rest. “Your stop,” he explained with the wave of his hand. 

“Thanks.” He ignored the others smile and walked in, shutting it behind him without looking back before glaring around the room with a frown. “This ought to be fun.” He was correct in his assumption that he wouldn’t sleep much but he somehow managed to get in three and a half hours of sleep before he was awake once more. He wasn’t exactly supposed to wander and he wasn’t going to, but then he found that his bathroom didn’t have a toothbrush and he needed to do his morning routine otherwise he’d feel off the rest of the day. Yeah. 

With that thought, he set off into the halls and with a few quick usages of his skill sets, he was wandering around completely free to do as he pleased. No one was supposed to be up yet so he didn’t run into anyone until after he managed to gain a toothbrush and Bobby walked into the hall up ahead of him, they both froze on sight of one another, Bobby with a cup if something in his hand and Dean clutching his new toothbrush with a ferocity probably unnecessary. 

Dean snapped out of it first and plastered a smile on his face before walking towards Bobby and attempting to pass him. It didn’t seem the other was willing to accept that and shot out his hand to catch Dean’s upper arm. 

“What are you doing up this early?” 

“It’s after five, Bobby. I’d hardly consider this early.” Bobby leveled him with a flat stare along with raised eyebrows. 

“Last time we tried to get you up before nine you threatened to stab the orderlies.” Eye brows raising on their own accord, Dean frowned at the other. Yeah, that did kind of sound like him. Unless it was by his own will, anyone other than Sam waking him up had to have a death wish.

“Times change.” He said, jerking his arm out of the others grasp before moving away and walking down the hall back to the room he’d stayed in the last night. The rest of the day passed almost like the first with one exception, group therapy. Dean was invited to it but the invite was phrased in a certain way, one that made it more of a threat if he didn’t go. So there he was, sitting in a circle with six others while Cas sat across from him. 

“Alright, who would like to start.” Deans mouth twitched down as the man next to him shot his hand straight up in the air, almost hitting Dean upside the head. Cas forced a smile on his face and nodded to him. 

“I’ve recently wanted to branch out and try macrame but the nurses say I’m not attentive enough to do it.” 

“Well, maybe try showing them you can be attentive enough for it. Anyone else.” 

“Yeah, uh, why are you leading this thing? Shouldn’t it be someone else.” Cas’s brows twitched, gaze switching from macrame boy to Deans smirking face. 

“Well, dr. Singer had a prior commitment and as you know dr. Shirley is on vacation. Now, is there anything you’d like to share Dean.” Piercing his lips, Dean looked off into the distance and shook his head. 

“Nope!” 

“Dean.” With a pointed look, Cas leaned forwards and gestured for Dean to talk. Sighing, he shook his head. 

“What do you want me to say, I’m here. Nothing more, nothing less. Can I go yet?” Thankfully Cas decided to move onto someone else and Dean was blessedly left alone for the rest of the time until they wrapped up their little session and he was free to go. Sam was visiting again so that’s where he made his first stop. His brother had brought an entire brief case of things and spread them out on the floor and table alike along with Dean. 

“So get this, this place? It’s had a patient go missing already.” Furrowing his brows, Dean looked over the several sheets of paper without looking up. 

“It’s like, the third of February.” 

“Exactly. Last year there were three, the year before that as well in fact, every year three patients go missing. It’s dated back to since this place opened, maybe even before.” 

“So what are we thinking? Djinn?” Sam sighed and shook his head. 

“Who knows man. Maybe you could do a bit of looking around? Maybe this Dean was onto something and got himself into here on purpose.” He didn’t say anything to that. He wasn’t quite sure that was true, not with everything he’d done so far. Soon after, their time was up and Sam once more left with the promise to look into it. Dean sighed and stared at the place his brother had disappeared. 

“You okay?” Eye brows raising, he looked over at Charlie, whom he hadn’t heard come in. 

“Yeah,” he quickly reassured, “yeah, just thinking.” 

“Hmm. Who was that?” She gestured to where Sam had exited and Dean took a moment to recall what story Sam had used. Grinning, he tilted his head and jerked a hand at the door. 

“My cousin. He just found out where I’ve been all this time and decided to visit.” She nodded but still looked skeptical. Still, she let it go. 

“So, hows life so far?” 

“You mean, am I seeing any hell hounds?” His smirk was wiped away with a flat glare as she sat down across from him. 

“I heard you refused to participate in the group therapy.” Shrugging, he frowned. 

“What could it possibly do for me besides make me feel crazier than I already am.” She huffed out a puff of laughter but it did little to hide the concern in her features. Tilting his head, Dean looked at her, actually looked at her and quickly came to the conclusion that something was wrong. 

“Charlie, what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing, nothing, but I don’t know who Charlie is-“ 

“Right right, it’s uh,” searching his memory he recalled it after a few seconds. “Celeste! Sorry, forgot.” She shook her head at him but didn’t comment. “You didn’t answer my question, what’s going on? You look freaked.” She continued to shake her head but lost the nervous smile. 

“I don’t know, you-you’ve gone on and on for years about these-these supernatural creatures like when you claimed Marilyn was a rug-ran-ue-“ 

“Rugaru” 

“-Whatever. My point is, wh-what do they look like?” Leaning forwards, Dean smiled as reassuringly as he could manage at her. 

“What did you see?” It probably came out way too harsh but, damnit! This was Sammy’s job, not his! 

“I-I don’t know, Martin had been completely normal up to a few weeks ago.” Raising his eye brows, Dean motioned for her to continue. “He’s been acting weird lately though, I mean, going into patients rooms and coming back out, later they are dead and-and then he just up and vanished. I don’t know what’s going on and I would never tell you of all people about this under any other conditions but-“ 

“I’m just going to stop you there and ask just how many times have you told me this spiel?” Her terrified features crumpled slightly, just enough to be noticeable. 

“What?” 

“Nice try, but someone who is really scared, who is completely terrified about what’s out there? They don’t act calmly, not in the way you are. So I’ll ask again, how many times have we gone through Martin, you said? Martin’s story?” He didn’t mention the fact that he and Sam already went over anything weird with this place. There were disappearances, not deaths. She sighed and sat back, glancing around. 

“About seven times since you got here.” Blowing out an impressed whistle, Dean switched over to an easygoing smile while still leaning forwards. 

“And did I believe it before?” 

“Every time.” 

“Why?” 

“Some of them don’t think you can last out here for longer than a day without trying to kill someone else so they make sure you can’t hurt any of us. I was told it was.. my turn. By some of us I mean everyone but me, Dr. Singer, Dr. Novak and Ellen.” 

“There you go. Now, if you really wanted to make it believable, maybe add in a bit about the patients being drained of blood or-or have a wound just below and behind their ear.” Patting his knee, he stood up and began walking away, shaking his head back and forth the entire way. Out in the hallway, two orderlies pretended to talk with one another while casting not so secretive glances at one another. Sighing he rolled his eyes and continued on with the names of those who he can possibly trust bouncing around in his head. No way he would find them on his own, not when he didn’t know the lay of the land. He’d need a map or- 

“Ouch!” It wasn’t his voice that came out, but he was feeling the sentiment. His body collided with theirs and instead of going down, Dean stayed firm in his stance and caught them halfway. 

“What the-oh, it’s you.” He wasn’t sure whether or not to be disappointed in the exasperation of the others voice. None the less, he set Cas back onto his feet and started to walk away. “Wait!” Resisting the urge to groan, Dean didn’t stop walking but he didn’t speed up either, leaving the doc to catch up to him with a quickened pace. “Hold on, where were you?” 

“I’m not hunting any Martin’s if that’s what you’re worried about.” He said while glancing around the hallway around them. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was looking for but it at least gave him something to do. 

“Wait wait wait,” Cas reached out and caught Deans arm. Unsure where this was going, Dean glanced from the hand gripping his arm to the eyes of the man whom the arm belonged to. 

“What’cha doing there, Cas?” Cas looked ready to say something before he glanced around and decided against it. Dragging Dean along with him, Cas lead them both into a spare room before closing the door behind him. 

“What do you mean you aren’t hunting a Martin?” 

“Should I be? Look man I’m just trying to get everything together and pull myself out of here, I don’t have time to be hunting some fake shit.” Cas tilted his head at him but said nothing. “Look, you don’t believe me, I get it, I mean this is how me and Sam got ourselves into a mental institute in the first place, by saying what we saw and did was real, but man I don’t know what’s going on here. We weren’t hunting anything, we were just going home and-and the next thing I know I wake up in a straitjacket.” 

“You’re... serious.” As if to say ‘why the hell wouldn’t I be?!’ Dean nodded and gestured for him to continue. “You’ve never realized before that Martin isn’t real.” 

“Cas, dude, you’re killing me here man.” 

“What is Cas short for?” Pausing, Dean glanced around the small room and managed to slightly shake his head. 

“What.” 

“What is Cas short for?” 

“Castiel. Come on dude, what does that have to do with anything?” 

“I haven’t gone by Castiel in years, in fact, you’ve been calling me Jim or Jimmy for years now so how did you know my birth name was Castiel.” Sighing, Dean rubbed at his face with one hand while he set the other onto his hip. How should he say this in the nicest way possible. 

“You, uh...” wincing, he let go of his face and brought both hands up to air bunny. “‘Gripped me right and raised me from perdition.’” 

“What does that mean?” 

“It means that you guys are wrong to keep other-me here. Yeah this guys got a few screws loose in the head but that’s because he’s still naive about it all. Look, I am not this worlds Dean, of that I’m pretty damn sure.” Cas stared at him, brows furrowed and frown apparent on his face, so much like his Cas yet still completely different. 

“I’m going to get out of here soon as Sammy figures out a) whether this dumbass really killed a vamp and not some random person and b) the easiest route out of here.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” 

“Because even if you’re not my Cas you’re still a Castiel or Jimmy or whatever. Besides, you could lock me up in another straitjacket inside a straitjacket inside a concrete box and I swear I would find a way out.” As if that explained anything, Dean turned to leave before his arm was once more captured in the others hand. 

“What, ‘Jimmy’?” Cas didn’t spare a moment, leveling Dean with a flat look. 

“This place is corrupt. Whether my Dean is good or not, I have no idea but damnit I have to know. With the amount of drugs they have me supplying him, it’s hard to say whether he’s sane or not. Be careful.” Nodding, Cas let Dean’s arm go and fled. Eyes wide he came to a stop back where he’d begun, in front of his room. Well, it was probably his room. Shaking his head he walked in and found that, yes, it was indeed his room. Sighing he looked around and toyed with the idea of trying to sleep but decided against it. Instead he once more found himself pulling the furniture apart but this time with the intent of gaining weapons of some sorts. 

In the end, he ended up with a homemade lock pick, a stake and a whole lot of loose pieces littered about. Not long after, they called out for lights out and Dean abided by it, first hiding his newly created tools before laying above the covers. The bed squeaked beneath him as he stared up at the low light coming from the window above. 

Breathing as deeply as he could through his nose, he wondered if he was switched with other him. Probably not seeing as Sam was also here. He wondered how Sam was doing. There was no chance that he had any money on his person when he got here, on top of that this place might not even accept the same currency. Sighing, he rolled into his side and came to terms with the fact that he’d just have to wait. 

Nothing else to do, he shut his eyes and only opened them up again when his door banged open, startling him from his peace of mind. Rolling out of bed, he spared no seconds in grabbing a stake and aiming it at the intruder while pocketing his lock-pick. Instead of an enemy, Bobby stood there, frantically searching the room for him. 

“Bobby?” His relief at seeing Dean was short lived as a second later he grabbed Dean’s shoulders and jerked him out of the room. The sudden movement startled Dean enough he dropped the makeshift weapon and stumbled blindly along. 

“Thank goodness you’re still here now hurry up before we both get thrown in a jacket.” Blinking, Dean still had no idea what was happening but picked up the pace to match the other. Ears picking up on something, he flung his arm out and caught Bobby in the stomach, forcefully causing him to stop. Bobby opened his mouth, probably to yell at him, but Dean cut him off by shoving his palm over the others mouth and shushing him. Not a second later, rushed footsteps sounded and he shoved himself and Bobby as far into the wall as he could until they ran past. Letting his hand drop, he scrounged his nose and wiped his palm on his pants. 

“Smart move.” 

“Thanks, learned it from you.” Smirking he looked around them and confirmed no one else was around. “Okay, what’s going on Bobby? You’re not planning on taking me outback and shooting me are ya?” 

“No, listen, we don’t have much time. Naomi finally got the grant to have you shipped to Lakeland, and they plan to move you now.” 

“Is the word Lakeland supposed to mean something to me?” Bobby froze, staring hard into Deans eyes with a look of pure, ‘are you mentally deficient,’ written in it. 

“It’s the place up north that’s ten times worse than here? At least three people a year get sent there, Dean. No one ever gets out of there, not unless they’re in a body bag. Look I-“ another set of footsteps and Bobby quietly cussed before shoving Dean in another direction all together. “Go that way! Two lefts and a right and you should run into Novak, he’ll help, just tell him what’s going on.” Shaking his head, Dean would have stayed if Bobby didn’t growl at him to get moving. Turning tail, he bolted out of the room and took the exact directions Bobby told him only to face a heavy wooden door. 

Instead of knocking, he burst into the room and prayed Cas wasn’t doing anything Dean didn’t want to see, even if he wasn’t technically Dean’s boyfriend. Instead, he was hunched over several pieces of paper with glasses sliding further down his face by the second. At Dean’s abrupt entrance he jerked his head up and stared at him. “Dean?” 

“No time, Bobby said they are sending me to some place called Lakeland?” 

“Bobby?” 

“Yeah, Bobby. Bobby singer. Robert Singer?” Cas’s eyes widened as he stood slowly, removing the glasses from his face as he went. 

“Did you say Lakeland?” Dean gestured a ‘yeah, and?’ and waited for the other to continue. Cas ignored him and wandered around his desk, rubbing at his chin as he moved. “This is bad. This is exactly what I feared would happen.” 

“So I’ve been told.” Cas shook his head and paused long enough to look at Dean. 

“No, you don’t understand, you go there, you aren’t getting out. Not alive at least. They take patients they don’t think can ever heal and they just-” he made an explosion with his hand “-vanish.” Without another word he guided Dean out of the room and, upon hearing a pair of footsteps down the hall, promptly turned them both the other way and ran Dean through a series of hallways until they came to a stop in a slightly larger than usual broom closet. A neat window sat at least seven feet up the wall and looked wide enough to fit at least one of them at a time through it. 

“Look, Dean, I have known you for years, and don’t say that I don’t know you because you’re ‘different.’” He interrupted with the raise of his hand when Dean tried to speak. 

“I have known you for years and I know you are a good man. When you get out go to a cafe called the Bee’s Knee’s, I’ll meet you there later. Now get out of here.” Shaking his head, Dean didn’t move an inch. 

“Go!” 

“I thought you didn’t believe in this stuff?” 

“I don’t,” Castiel glanced back, relaxing his intense face for the slightest flash of a smile, “but you do. Go and fix whatever this is that needs fixing.” 

“Here,” he readied his fist and Cas automatically backed away. 

“What?” 

“I’m not gonna knock you out, I’m just going to clock you so it looks like you tried to stop me, now stop being a wuss.” A hand went up protectively shielding his face. 

“I don’t want to get punched.” 

“Would you rather be arrested? Stop being a baby.” With a pout, Cas lowered his hand and squeezed his eyes shut. Rolling his own eyes, Dean spared a second to sigh before hitting fake-Cas in the jaw in a way that would quickly form a bruise. Cas flexed his jaw and went to speak when someone started pounding on the door, yelling to let them in. 

“Go, now,” upon Dean hesitating once more, Cas shoved him backwards. “Please.” Not so much as nodding, Dean turned away and, with one final glance behind him, he gracefully parkoured his way up the wall and out the small window into the outside world. 

The moonlight caught his eye automatically and left his shoulders dropping and a smile catching his face once more. It was time to get the hell out of dodge. Running through the nearby forest he heard an alarm blare behind him and sped up. No chance any of them would catch up to him on foot, but there was always the chance they had golf carts. He managed to get a good half mile away before stopping for a break. 

Panting, he bent over and leaned his hands on his knees to take a second. Goodness knows how far he was from the main building but he saw something much more promising, the parking lot, filled to the brim with cars. All of them alone, all of them easy to break into. Checking to make sure he still had his makeshift lock-pick on him, he picked the least douche like car and got it running. He wasn’t sure how much time he had before they figured out where he was or what he was doing but didn’t much care. They would figure out whose car he’d stolen soon so he needed to get away. 

Pulling out of the lot, he followed the long winding road until a crossroads came up. Guessing by the off in the distance lights to his right, that’s the way Sam probably was. Locating the closest yellow page was one of the more difficult things he’d had to do thus far and the getup he wore didn’t help but when he was done he stood in front of a door with the number twelve on it. 

Slamming his fist into the wood, it opened a second later to his brothers confused face. The look cleared the second he took in Dean’s face and he gripped Dean’s shoulders to pull him into a hug. 

“Woah! It hasn’t been that long, Sammy.” 

“Still, uh, come in.” Sitting down, Dean looked over the stacks of papers and books scattered around the room impressed. 

“You pulled this all together in two days?” 

“Yeah, well. Anyway, get this, the body that they found other you standing over had odd incisions on their upper gums that later revealed they were filled with sharp fang like teeth. So, yeah, other you actually did take down a vamp.” Sighing, Dean smiled behind his hand and rolled his shoulders. 

“Man I got to tell you, that’s a relief to hear. And the asylum? Turns out when they find a patient that’s too far gone? They just send them up to ‘Lakeland.’” Sam shook his head at Dean, clearly not getting it. “Lakeland is apparently another asylum and code for sending you to your death.” 

“Oh man.” 

“Yeah.” Soon after a yawn ripped through his body that he tried to ignore, he really did, but the next thing he knew Sam was throwing a pillow at his head and it was eight o’clock in the morning. 

“So,” he started once Dean was up and running. “Since the disappearance thing was a bust, any idea how we got here?” 

“I’m running on the idea it was another angel.” 

“Like Balthazar?” Humming, Dean nodded and shit his eyes before throwing his head down into his hands. “But that doesn’t make any sense. We weren’t doing anything and they would have to send us through something to even get us here.” Sighing into his hands, Dean rubbed at his face before freezing and slowly raising his head. Sam took notice of this and dropped the papers he was looking through to give Dean a puppy look. “What?” 

“I think I might know how we can find out if anything’s been going on around here lately.” 

“That’s great, want to share with the class?” Standing up, he ignored the others question and went to grab the keys to a car Sam surely stole on his way towards the door when Sam stopped him. “Before we do whatever bad idea you’re thinking of, you need to take a shower and change. You stink.” 

“What are talking about,” he practically yelled as he backed off of the keys, grinning. “I smell amazing!” Despite saying that, he took a quick shower if only to remove the smell of crazy from his skin and borrowed Sam’s clothes along with a razor he found below the sink and came out at least looking presentable. 

“You happy now princess.” 

“Jerk.” Sam grunted out, smile on his face as he got his coat. 

“Bitch.” Grabbing the keys along the way, the two exited and hoped in the car Sam pointed to. “Alright, where are we going?” 

“The Bee’s Knee’s. Apparently its a cafe nearby.” 

“Why?” Even while asking, Sam pulled out his phone and searched it up, pulling up directions in less than ten seconds. 

“Because, that’s why.” Scoffing at his brothers antics, Sam silently went back to staring ahead of him at the road until they pulled up into a parking lot and both got out. 

“So who are we here for again?” Sam didn’t miss the quick glance Dean sent his way once they were out and headed towards the front door but chose not to comment on it. 

“Uh, Cas?” Dean knew his brother had stopped based on the sudden decrease in surrounding footsteps. Putting on his best poker face he turned to look at his brother. 

“Cas? Like Castiel Cas? He’s here?” 

“A different Cas, this places Cas, now come on.” Walking forwards he went inside with Sam right on his tail. Inside a bell above the door rang and Dean looked around. Cheerful pop music came from the speakers in the ceiling and tables with four chairs decorated the center of the room with booths crowding the outer rim. The yellow and grey accents decorating every available surface gave the room a distinct feeling Dean couldn’t place but found comforting all the same. Glancing around, the two broke off, Sam heading towards the register where no one stood while Dean wandered a few feet away to survey the area. 

“Gabriel?” Turning slowly, Dean looked at the cashier to find the one and only angel turned trickster gesturing for Sam to continue. Laughing, Dean walked forwards and smacked Sam’s upper back, hoping it would help snap him out if it. 

“Sorry, you just have the same name as a friend of ours!” Gabriel seemed to take the answer seriously and quickly rushed them into ordering. One piece of pie and two coffees later, the brothers sat across from one another in a booth at the back. 

“So, when is he supposed to be here.” Stabbing a piece of pie onto his fork, Dean shrugged and shoved it into his mouth. 

“Dunno.” 

“Well do you know if he honestly believes we aren’t from here.” 

“Nope.” 

“Do you know anything.” Shrugging, Dean continued to eat until the bell above the door chimed once more. Neither brother paid it any attention, instead focusing on arguing with one another. It was only when a chair was dragged over from a nearby table to the open space at the head of the table that either of them stopped arguing and looked away from each other. Cas sat there with a cup of tea cradled in his hands, glancing back and forth between the two brothers. Sitting up, Dean scooted the empty plate away and gave a small smile at the other. 

“Cas, good to see you’re okay.” 

“Yes, I suppose it is.” He said, not once taking his eyes off Sam. 

“This is Sam by the way,” he faltered for a second wondering how to continue but decided on the truth. “My brother.” 

“The one who died?” He could hear the disbelief in the others voice but chose to ignore it. Much like when he ignored when Sam turned to him. 

“Other me died?” 

“Huh, oh yeah. Thought I told you that?” 

“No you didn’t.” Bordering on awkward silence, Dean decided to clear the silence by doing what he did best. Working a case. 

“Okay so, these questions may sound weird but I need you to answer them. Have there been any freak light storms happening lately? Flickering lights? Cold spots? Anyone acting out of character?” To each question, Cas shook his head and in the end Dean was left to stare outside the window. What now? What could they possibly do now? 

“Wait. Actually, There was a huge electrical storm on the night you came here and this weird sort of high pitch screech thing.” Leaning forwards, Dean glanced from Cas to where Gabriel was supposed to be standing and back. 

“Like lights flickering or...” he stopped, snapping his head back to the counter and straightening up. “Son of a bitch.” Standing, Sam followed soon after and they left a confused Cas to sit alone. 

“What?” 

“Where’s Gabriel?” Sam looked around as well, seemingly not spotting him either. 

“Crap.” 

“What’s going on?” 

“You come here a lot, right? Does Gabriel usually work the counter?” Standing from his seated position, Cas looked around as well and upon not seeing the trickster shook his head. 

“No, no I’ve never seen him before, I thought he was new.” Him and Sam looked at one another from across the table. 

“You think it’s him.” 

“That dick? Yeah, it’s him.” 

“Who’s who? What are you guys talking about?” He gestured to Sam to talk as he was too busy walking away and inspecting every surface for any clue as to where the trickster went. 

“Well, uh, a while ago we ran across this, um, this guy who turned out to be an archangel. We thought Lucifer killed him but...” 

“But apparently the guy literally cannot stay dead.” Though he couldn’t see it, Sam nodded behind Deans back before moving to look over the space himself. 

“So you guys know not just an archangel but... the devil too?” 

“Regretting your choice of letting me out yet?” He shot a smile Cas’s way only to catch the other mid head tilt. 

“No.” He didn’t elaborate further, just let the word float freely. Nodding, Dean walked away from the display case to stand in front of the other-Cas. 

“Where exactly did the electrical storm happen?” Several arguments, two new uniforms and an awkward car ride later, the three of them were back at the mental institute walking along the halls. Both Sam and Cas were trying their hardest to keep Dean from being seen which lead to even more awkward conversations but they made it back in and in the group therapy section. Dean looked around the room he was in just a day ago with distain. If he never saw this place again it would be too soon. 

“Alright,” he began, stepping forwards to stand in the middle of the room. “Where are you, you winged dick!” He yelled into the empty room, sending Cas into a panic. Stepping forwards he went to try and shush Dean when Sam set his hand on Cas’s shoulder, effectively stopping him. “Come on! Are we really playing this game!” 

“Yes,” whirling around, Dean stared wide eyed at Gabriel who sat on a chair a few feet away. “Yes I am.” Growling, Dean would have charged him if Sam didn’t block him from moving as well. 

“Why?” He asked instead. 

“Well, what better way to reintroduce myself into you two muttonheads life’s than with a big bang!” Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead stared at Gabriel with a thinly veiled lack of patience. 

“Put us back. Now.” Clicking his tongue, Gabriel switched his gaze back to Sam and shook his head. 

“Have you learned nothing Sammich? Where’s the drama? The flair of theatrics! The-“ 

“Get on with it.” Cas snapped, even he was apparently growing tired of the others antics. Piercing his lips, Dean fought in a laugh before shifting to face the other three fully. 

“Cut the crap.” 

“Don’t you get it? I didn’t send you here just cause I can. I sent you here because this you needed it.” That made him refrain from saying why he wanted to. 

“What is that supposed to mean.” Thankfully Sam didn’t seem to have the same problem he did. 

“Well, lets not forget about the guy floating around inside!” 

A pause then, “what?” Gabriel wandered away only to come to a stop next to Sam and leaned against him. 

“Well Sammy here had to be shipped over but you? Why go through the added process of getting your body here when there a perfectly good meat suit ripe for the picking able to have another conscious shoved right up in there!” 

“You son of a bitch.” Gabriel shrugged but didn’t comment. 

“So what, you do this kind of thing to these two often.” Wincing, Dean switched his gaze back to the man who had helped him through all of this. 

“Not since he faked his death the... fourth time I think.” Sam nodded behind him but made no move to shove the trickster off of him. 

“Look, I’ll admit that in my youth I was a bit of an ass about my lessons but I’ve changed-“ Dean scoffed “-I’ve become a better person. Besides, you’ve got to admit, if you hadn’t come along this poor saps life would still be over.” As much as he hated to admit it, Gabriel was right. Didn’t that hurt to say. 

“Fine. Whatever. Just let us get this me out of here and then send us back, understand me?” Gabriel held up his hands and formed a look of innocence. Too bad they already knew better. With the slight flick of his wrist, his fingers flicked and the three of them stood alone in the room, as well as a timer sitting innocently in his place. It showcased fifty nine minutes with some odd seconds and rapidly depleted the longer they waited. 

“We should get you two out of here, before anyone notices you.” Dean nodded albeit a bit numbly and they followed his lead while Cas lead them out, back into his car and far away. 

Dean stared absentmindedly out the window, taking in nothing besides the general green of the trees. Nothing more than the blur of these past few days. He may not see the world but he thought about it. He wonders if they were gone for longer than a second back home. If his Cas looked for them. Whether or not he bothered to be worried, it wasn’t like Dean was the kind of person you cared about. If anything, he wouldn’t blame Castiel if he just chose to ignore Dean’s disappearance. Through it all, Cas in every realm helped him. Back home, he would be dead ten times over, here, this him would have long since faded away if not for the man stealing worried glances at him besides Dean. The car stopped and the next thing Dean knew, he had opened his door along with Sam and the trio stood outside the car. 

“Where are we?” Sam was asking the right questions, Dean just looked around. 

“My apartment building, I figured it would be the best place for my Dean to come to as well as having someone around to make sure he’s...” Cas trailed off, shaking his head and searching for the right words. 

“Not Cuckoo for Coco Puffs?” He offered. Cas nodded before leading the way up into a small one bedroom flat with the barest essentials. 

“I don’t use this place often, it’s more for when I have guests.” Nodding, Dean walked in and started poking around in the nearest drawer. It was slammed closed, narrowly avoiding amputating his hand clean off. Looking wide eyes at Cas he found the other glaring at him. 

“You mind.” 

“Well I don’t mind not getting my hand chopped off, thanks.” Sighing, Cas walked away as Sam called out to them. Turning, he found his brother standing a few feet away staring down at the timer with furrowed brows. 

“We’ve got two minutes left.” He said, setting the object onto the nearest surface which just happened to be a table. 

“Well,” Dean started, stepping up to stand next to the other Cas, “I got to say man you-“ he cut himself off, shaking his head before slamming his palm down on the others shoulder. “You really helped me out, so thank you, you know, for not thinking I’m batshit insane and believing in me.” Cas nodded. 

“Honestly, like I had a choice in believing you after a man just comes out of nowhere and then disappears again into a stop watch.” 

“You believed other-me long before that though, didn’t you?” Cas shrugged his shoulders, not moving his eyes from Deans own. 

“Maybe I did. Maybe I felt that this time was different or that you were always different, or maybe it was just a healthy dose of luck. Who knows.” Smiling at the other, Dean scoffed and took his arm back. 

“Still, thanks.” 

“Fifteen seconds.” A voice that didn’t belong to any of them said. Dean didn’t bother flicking his eyes over to the former Trickster, instead he sat on the couch as fast as he could. Goodness knows what kind of condition this other him would be in when he came back and he wasn’t all that willing to accidentally give other him a concussion. 

It was a good thing he sat down as a moment later his stomach felt warm, unnaturally so, and his eye lids dropped mechanically. He wasn’t tired a few seconds ago but, damn, now he wasn’t sure how he even managed to keep his eyes open in the first place. 

Sam was in a similar situation but sitting at the table and it wasn’t just his stomach that felt warm. Everything was burning up and it was all he could do not to collapse on the spot. He still succumbed to sleep though, it just took longer than it normally would have. 

At the same time, both Dean and Sam fell unconscious and left nothing behind in Sam’s case while Dean just glowed an unnatural yellow before it dissipated and fizzled into nothing. Cas stared around the room and found nothing out of place. No randomly appearing men, no lumbering man-puppy, all that was left was the sleepy guy on his couch. Just in case he checked the others pulse but it was regular, not overly excessive nor under doing it. Everything sat still around him, completely back to their normal states. 

Only then did it cross his mind that maybe that angel dude was lying about his Dean being alright. As he was beginning to lose hope he would wake up, Dean shot upward with a gasp of air. Cas was on his feet in a second, besides him and placing his hands on the others upper back and on his shoulder, shushing the others panting. 

“Dean, Dean! It’s okay, you’re okay, just calm down.” He didn’t immediately slow his breaths but soon he was just sitting there with a blank look as his breaths came in slowly and evenly. 

“Are you here? You with me bud?” 

“It was all real...” he didn’t explain what he was talking about, he didn’t need to, they both knew. Nodding, Cas resisted the urge to wince and let Dean push his legs over the edge and sit facing him. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be.” He shook his head, the ghost of a smile lighting his face. “I finally know that I’m not.. some... psychopath who killed a man because of a hallucination.” 

“You remember everything that’s happened?” Dean nodded, scooting forwards further from the back of the couch and closer to Cas. 

“Almost everything. Whatever trapped me in here at least gave me the mercy of seeing everything other me saw.” Cas stared down at his lap, feeling the others gaze on him and choosing not to comment on it. 

“Including what you did for me.” Snapping his gaze upwards, he stared at Deans smiling face. “Thank you, Castiel Jimmy Novak for taking care of me, even before this.” 

Oh no. 

In that instance, everything Cas had been holding at bay leapt front and center and with Dean sitting there smiling at him, sunlight from the window behind him streaming in, everything fell into place. He’s falling in love with this man, not just the random guy that acted like him, but the guy who tried to save people even when high off his rocker. What the hell. 

“You okay there? You seem spacey.” Snapping out of it, Cas shook his head and shot the other a forced smile. 

“Yeah, just thinking. You can stay here until we figure out what to do with... everything.” 

“No, I can’t do that, I’m already intruding too much.” Leveling the other with a flat stare, Cas watched as Deans arguments fizzled out into a quiet ‘thank you.’

“You are welcome. Now, lets get you some food as you’ve probably only had that pie from earlier.” Standing up, Cas hastily made his retreat back to his kitchen. Even if he finally realized everything, he wasn’t going to say anything. It wasn’t necessary right now. What he needed was to first find out how Dean’s true mentality was without the dugs and then, figure out where to go next. Still, he had no intention of letting Dean go through it on his own, he would be there right besides him making sure he never felt alone. 

So stuck in his head, Cas missed the fond look the other sent his way as soon as his back was turned, but that was okay. It wasn’t meant to be seen yet anyway.

Waking up wasn’t a nice experience. Turns out, having your soul shoved into another body and then shoved back into yours was not a pleasant experience. Numbly, Dean fumbled around for his pillow, Sam, a weapon, anything really but his fingers met nothing in return. Fighting to get his eyes open, he took notice that the room was not the same dirt-on-everything-dust-where-it-wasn’t, motel room he originally went to sleep in. 

System automatically kicking into gear, Deans body worked on its own and next thing he knew he was sitting up and snapping his head side to side in a desperate attempt to figure out where he was. One quick glance around told him everything he needed to know and had the added effect of confusing him all the same. 

He was back in his room in the bunker, wrapped up in his specific choice of fluffy blankets but still in the clothes he’d fallen asleep in. Shoving the blankets off his legs he stood up and felt his knees wobble. Ignoring it he rushed on, locating and grabbing the nearest weapon and rushing the door. Sticking his weapon out first, he followed soon after and pointed it down both ends of the hall. No one came around any corners and though he stayed still, no one jumped out trying to stab him. 

Gun lowering of it’s own accord his feet moved forwards, he crept towards the kitchen where the sound of dishes clanking together echoed in the otherwise silent bunker. Brows furrowing his brought the gun back up and waited around the corner. He wasn’t sure why he was waiting, it just felt right. Not three seconds later he spun around the corner and pointed the weapon at the back of a messy haired figure clad in a trench coat. 

“Cas?” It didn’t matter that it was barley above a whisper, it didn’t matter that the other man shouldn’t have been able to hear it, what mattered is that he did. What mattered is that a second after the words made it out of his mouth, his long since best-friend-turned-something-more spun around and stared wides eyes at Dean. 

“Dean?” 

“Yeah, it’s me buddy.” Dropping the gun into the nearest surface the two crossed the room towards one another and crashed into the others body. Arms coming up on habit, he patted Cas’s back as though this hug didn’t mean everything to him the same as the other. Neither moved for a solid minute and even when they did it was only so they could look into the others face. 

“Where were you two? I’ve been looking for you both for a week after you didn’t call in.”

“Gabriel.” Cas stared at him with a head tilt, mouth just open enough to be noticeable. Dean forced back a smile at the look. Sure that other Castiel may have looked and cared slightly like his Cas but damn. That movement all on its own proved this was his world. “The dick sent us to another reality to, I don’t know, un-screw up someone else’s life?” Cas hummed and looked away, thoughtful look on his face. 

“Why would he do that?” Dean shrugged around the others arms. 

“He said something about wanting to join us, so, who knows.” Cas nodded before leaning in and pecking Dean on the lips which he returned full heartedly. 

“Gross, so do not need to see this.” Breaking apart, Dean turned and glared at his brother who just stood there, grinning at them in a way that suggested he cared far less than he let on. 

“Rude.” 

“Anyways,” Cas started, interrupted what was sure to be an argument between him and his brother with a glare aimed at both of them. “I’m glad to see you two are both okay.” Breathing in, Dean leaned his head back against his boyfriends shoulder and sighed in contentment. 

“Me too, sunshine. Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> *jazz hands*
> 
> Thank you for reading! My favorite trope in any fandom is a character waking in another world, knowing things from their world but being mistaken as the person from that world, a completely different version of themselves. I couldn’t find enough of them, so I decided to write one. 
> 
> Again, thank you for taking the time out of your life to read this and I hope you liked it!


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